Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Dodgers look to get back to their winning ways at home against Beachy, who held the Diamondbacks scoreless over 7 1/3 innings in his last start. If Lilly expects to win, he won't be able to walk six like he did in his last start, against the Astros. Offensively, let's hope the Dodgers tighten up their game on the basepaths. But hey, at least they're getting on base.

Monday night's game with the Braves featured a pair of ill-advised baserunning plays by the Dodgers. Matt Kemp tried to score from first base with nobody out on a single, and was easily thrown at home, and Dee Gordon was thrown out trying to steal second base with a runner on third base, one out, and Kemp on deck.

Mattingly called a team meeting before today's game to address the baserunning woes, which have occurred more often than Monday night. "There have been times we're happy with things and times we're not happy. It's been a sense of concern," Mattingly said.

The Dodgers stole successfully 76% of the time last season, fifth in the National League, but this season have been caught 11 of 23 times. But it's not just base stealng, as the Dodgers have also made 11 outs on the bases, tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for most in the league.

"Last year we really ran the bases well," Mattingly said. "This year we've made some mistakes. We've gotten away with it. But we don't feel like we can continue to get away with it. It's an area we need to improve.

Mattingly said the meeting addressed all types of baserunning mistakes, which have been occurring since the start of the season.

"It's been brewing. We've made too many mistakes," Mattingly said. I don't feel like we're good enough to make mistakes and give runs away and give outs away."